


Operation: Get Keith more friends.

by RahDamon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Hunk and Keith friendship is so precious, friends and friendly, omg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:30:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13882854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RahDamon/pseuds/RahDamon
Summary: There was one obvious flaw in that ‘Get Keith friends’ plan, Matt and Shiro had overlooked.Even if Keith wanted to find other friends - and he didn’t - Keith was an absolute mess at social interaction. He still didn’t know how he had managed to befriend Shiro (and Matt, too, though Matt was more the ‘I’ll latch onto you and not let you go’-type).Somehow, he still managed to befriend Hunk.





	Operation: Get Keith more friends.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mikiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikiri/gifts).



> A Commission for Mikiri! I really hope you'll like it OwO

The rows were empty, all the seats empty.

 

Thank God. If Keith had woken up early and someone had already been here, he’d have flipped out or just straight out turned around and left the room. This way he could pick out the best seat for himself.

 

Ambling around the room, Keith chose a seat in the middle row, the closest to the window. His bag hit the floor and he sat down. This chair was just as comfortable as any other the Garrison offered in all its facilities - that was to say, it wasn’t comfortable, at all.

 

Keith tilted his head as he stared out of the window, stars still visible as dawn began dyeing the sky red. His lips twitched as a thought waltzed into his mind like a cat into her home. Coming to the class room two hours before class started might have been over the top - especially to an 8 am class.

 

Coming to the room at all had been a surprise, though. Keith hadn’t signed up for the course, Shiro had signed him up for this. Well, him and Matt.

 

One evening they had both appeared in his dorm carrying bucket loads of pamphlets and set on convincing him to take an additional class. They had bickered with each other while pulling up ‘advantages for you’ - charts and laying out logical arguments why he should take extra classes.

 

It all amounted to one thing: Operation Get Keith more friends.

 

In the beginning of the operation Keith had been amused and gone along with it, asking questions. But a few hours later, after being ranted at and having to watch those two oblivious idiots dance around each other in such a blatant way that even Keith picked up the romantic AND sexual tension, he had had enough.

 

Fishing out one of the pamphlets Keith had told Shiro he’d go to that one and to get the hell out of his room. Both Shiro and Matt had grinned at him. While walking out of Keith’s room, Shiro had chirped - __chirped!__  - that he’d sign Keith up and would give him all information Keith needed within the next few days.

 

And Shiro being Shiro had done exactly that, had signed Keith up and put the class times and dates into his communicator. At least, Keith had been lucky enough to sign up for a class that seemed interesting from its title alone - Robots will dominate! No, Keith wasn’t kidding, that was literally the class name in his schedule.

 

Yesterday Matt had knocked at his door and reminded him of this class and Keith had groaned, only for Matt to squeeze his arm. Looking up, he had been shocked by Matt’s grateful smile.

 

“Thank you for humouring him with this,” Matt had said, his hand almost scorching on Keith’s skin.

 

“Why is he even so worried?” Keith had asked, frustration making his voice rough.

 

“You’ve got no friends.”

 

“Lie,” Keith had shot back before a wave of insecurity could threaten to overwhelm him. “I have two.”

 

Matt had sighed and looked around the corridor before leaning into Keith’s space.

 

“You gotta keep this secret, okay? Shiro and I have been chosen for the exploratory mission in a few weeks. Shiro is worried about you.”

 

Keith’s breath had caught. “...he wants me to make friends, so I’m not alone while you’re gone?”

 

Grinning Matt had nodded. “I’m also going to introduce you to my sister if we’re going to be shot into space. Two seems to be a good number for you, so get a friend in that class.” With a mocking salute Matt had walked away.

 

And now Keith was here, early enough to observe the people in the class, early enough to judge if any of them had the potential to be a friend. However, there was one obvious flaw in that ‘Get Keith friends’ plan, Matt and Shiro had overlooked.

 

Even if Keith wanted to find other friends - and he didn’t - Keith was an absolute mess at social interaction. He still didn’t know how he had managed to befriend Shiro (and Matt, too, though Matt was more the ‘I’ll latch onto you and not let you go’-type).

 

A crash and low moaning ripped Keith out of his thoughts. He turned towards the door and a guy stood there with a dismayed look directed at the floor. With his curiosity awakened, Keith stretched his neck.

 

On the floor was a venerable sea of smashed cupcakes, orange icing spilling like congealed blood, interspersed with broken plate pieces. It was kind of artistic in an abstract and morbid way. Ruined but still full of life, not edible but - Keith’s nose twitched and he inhaled deeply - still smelling deliciously spicy.

 

“Oh no, no, no,” the guy muttered, breathing faster and faster. He was breathing so fast that Keith felt the need to speak up.

 

“You might want to clean this up.”

 

The guy’s neck didn’t snap when he turned to Keith but the wide blown eyes conveyed the surprise just as well. When his and Keith’s gaze locked, the guy’s mouth fell open and he clenched his eyes shut, whimpering softly.

 

To be honest, that threw Keith out of the loop. Was that normal behaviour? Somehow he didn’t think so but it was just as inconceivable that he had finally found someone who was just as awkward as him in social settings.

 

“Are ...you okay?”

 

“Oh, I’m fine. A+ fine, embarrassing myself when I wanted to make a good impression and...” The guy trailed off into a long drawn-out moan.

 

Keith couldn’t keep in a snicker. “On whom?”

 

Blinking the guy - maybe Keith should ask for a name? It was getting annoying to always think ‘the guy’ - tilted his head and frowned. “On whom what?”

 

“Who did you want to impress?”

 

“Oh.” His expression clearing up the guy smiled and Keith had to blink again. Despite the guy’s imposing stature that smile set Keith at ease. That smile said without words that the guy couldn’t hurt a fly and just wanted to be your friend. “The Prof. And my classmates.”

 

With a mourning look at the smashed cupcakes he sighed. “Seems not to be in my stars, though.”

 

A snort escaped Keith at that lame pun and the guy grinned at him.

 

“Well, no use in mourning spilled cupcakes!” - Keith snorted again widening the guy’s grin -”Hi, I’m Hunk!”

 

Before Keith could answer Hunk - good, a name! - an older woman walked briskly into the room, grey-streaked hair pulled up into a straight ponytail. At the sight of them she stopped and stared at them.

 

“Two early birds, huh? Nevermind, find yourselves seats - not you, you got one - and stay quiet.”

 

Bristling Keith opened his mouth but it wasn’t him who spoke. “Sure, Professor Montgomery,” Hunk said and scrambled up to take a seat beside Keith. To Keith he whispered that it was less troublesome to just listen to Professor Montgomery. She wasn’t the most patient.

 

“Neither am I,” Keith whispered back and they both snorted.

 

“Quiet, you two.”

 

One hour later the room was full, people lounging in their seats and low chattering all around until Montgomery coughed.

 

“Ok, people, down to business. First classes are always the same and I’m not gonna bother talking too much,”

 

Maybe Keith would learn to like her. He did like the straight out, saying what you mean approach to things.

 

“This is a course less for the theory-minded among you and more for those interested in the practical side of building. How would all those pilots fly without their machines? The goal of this course is to know how to repair and build drones as well as the spacecraft itself.”

 

Beside Keith, Hunk was listening, head tilted and looking straight at her. As a pilot this wasn’t that interesting for Keith but knowing how to fix the thing you depended on for survival was a good idea.

 

“Your grade and if you pass or fail depends on a group project. Your partner is your closest desk neighbour.”

 

A swell of complaints rained down at her but she smiled. After the complaints ran out she shrugged her shoulders. “Anyone have a problem with that, come to me. You’ll get a F noted down. Anyway, I’m going to give each pair of you a topic next time and then you’ll have the whole trimester for creating something fitting the requirements. Get to know your partners today!”

 

She cackled as she saw the dismayed and shocked stares of her students. “Toodles! You don’t need me here to complete that task.”

 

Several people followed when the professor left but Keith stayed at his seat and glanced at Hunk. Who turned to him, still smiling. Did the guy spend 95% of his time smiling? Keith thought only Matt was able to do that.

 

“So, like I said earlier, I’m Hunk, engineer, second trimester. Hi!”

 

Keith nodded once and only when Hunk made an inquisitive noise, he realized that Hunk was waiting for his introduction.

 

“Oh, ah, I’m Keith, fighter pilot, same.”

 

“A fighter pilot, huh?” Hunk blinked, surprise coloring his voice. Keith bristled. The tone wasn’t the same but the exact same words had been said by his last social worker, who had been convinced that Keith would lose control of his temper and end up convicted.

 

“Is there something wrong with being a fighter pilot?”

 

“Uhm, no, no. My best friend wants to become one. I just thought ... this is an engineer class.”

 

“Evidently not,” Keith murmured as the bell rang.

 

“Till next week,” Hunk called out and waved.

 

* * *

 

Keith stared at the tiny slip of paper with twitching eyes.

 

“Uhh, at least we have enough freedom?”

 

Snapping to Hunk, Keith couldn’t help his snarl. “Freedom? ‘Build something useful for one person’. That’s it. That’s our job. What is useful? What is meant by one person?”

 

This wasn’t a straightforward task, Keith took back his thought that he might learn to like the professor.

 

“Well,” Hunk started, careful and slow. “Since this is an engineer course and she mentioned drones in the first lesson, how about we build a drone?”

 

That made sense actually.

 

“Though, what kind of a drone?”

 

“Could we try a drone capable of retrieving persons as well as samples and also being able to store them?”

 

Hunk hummed, drumming his fingers against his chin. “It would have to be big ... big enough to carry one and we’d have to consider how to make it fly. Also, assuming you mean an injured person that can’t move, we’d have to find a way to get the person on the drone.”

 

“Grapple hooks?”

 

“Brilliant!” Hunk grinned at him and Keith couldn’t help grinning back.

 

* * *

 

 

“Cheese, god!” Hunk exclaimed, growling, as he looked at the frame of their drone.

 

“Cheese god?” Keith puzzled. What did a god of cheese, if there was one, have to do with their project.

 

“No, no,” Hunk moaned. “I don’t like to curse. We have to start over.”

 

“What?”

 

Wordlessly Hunk pointed to a crossing in their framework and then to the plans they had drawn up. After comparing them for a few minutes, Keith cursed, disregarding the appalled look Hunk was sending him. They had welded two more crossings than they needed.

 

“We’ll have to buy more materials with our own money,” Keith said, more than a little dismayed. It wasn’t like he had a family to ask for it and the state and school only did so much.

 

“Or we could try adjusting our plans? Like ... if we add a little more support here and there ...” Hunk started getting into it, explaining his ideas and using their framework to illustrate it.

 

It sounded doable but ...

 

“How do we add the turbines and motor?”

 

“Oh.” Hunk deflated and sighed.

 

He looked like a bear cub that wasn’t allowed near the honey pots or like a salamander that didn’t get a space near fire. Keith couldn’t endure that, so he wrecked his brain for a solution.

 

“Wait, do you know of hoverboards? Not the skateboard ones but-”

 

“-the ones looking like motorcycles and having the Avengers-esque turbo blades? That could actually work and if we calibrate a little more ...”

 

As Hunk babbled on, Keith settled down and listened.

 

* * *

 

 

“My best friend doesn’t like you,” Hunk informed him.

 

“Really? I don’t even know him.”

 

“That’s why he doesn’t like you.”

 

Keith gaped at Hunk who laughed.

 

“By the way, when we’re going on a test drive next week, can I bring you some cupcakes? Didn’t get to give you one, after all.”

 

When had Hunk brought - ah, Keith remembered.

 

“Cream filling? Then I can’t eat it.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Lactose-intolerant.”

 

“I love challenges?” Hunk chuckled. “Oh, gimme that wrench?”

 

* * *

  

If it weren’t necessary, Keith would feel slightly humiliated, standing there with his uniform ripped in a lot of places, some more revealing than others. At least Hunk wasn’t the kind of person who would mock others and was in fact heaping an avalanche of apologies on Keith.

 

“It’s ok, Hunk. We still have to test how much weight it can carry, right?”

 

Nodding Hunk turned back to the control console and fiddled with some of the buttons. With a quiet buzzing the blades started whirling and the drone rose, hovering over the ground.

 

“Ready, Hunk?”

 

When Hunk nodded, Keith grabbed a sack with about 22 pounds sand onto the drone. It barely swayed, staying upright, even when Keith added another three sacks with the same weight.

 

They grinned at each other, pleased. Keith wasn’t satisfied, though. “Hey, big man, none of our potential rescuees will only weigh 48 pounds. If we add too much will it break?”

 

“I don’t think so? It should just sink to the ground but-”

 

However, Keith didn’t keep listening in favour of jumping onto the drone. It wobbled and Keith threw his arms out to balance himself. After a few shaky minutes, the drone stabilised, significantly lower than before but still hovering an acceptable distance over the ground.

 

“Well, seems it works.”

 

Hunk gaped at him before he groaned. “You’re such a ride-or-die person, Keith.”

 

Keith blinked. “I wouldn’t have died if that didn’t work?”

 

“Nevermind, nevermind.” Hunk threw a towel at him. “Get that ripped thing off and clean yourself. I think we’ll have to be back by 10 pm ... don’t really want to be locked out of my dorm.”

 

As Hunk packed everything up except a small cooling box, Keith tried cleaning himself as well as he could with the small towel. He actually didn’t mind the dust and dirt but the sky attracted his attention.

 

Two days ago, the Kerberos mission had launched with Commander Holt, Matt and Shiro as crew. How far away from Earth were they now? Had they already passed another planet or were they stuck among the darkness of space?

 

“Hey Keith?”

 

Hunk’s voice brought Keith back to Earth - no pun intended - and he turned towards him, only to blink. Hunk was grinning and holding a plate with a piece of cake.

 

“I do love challenges. A carrot cake for you, made without milk or anything else with lactose meaning, you should be able to eat it.”

 

 

Keith gaped down at the cake before his eyes flickered to Hunk’s. Hunk looked so proud and it was this moment. This moment made Keith realize one thing.

 

Operation: Get Keith more friends had succeeded. He had one more friend.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“You’re very welcome! How’s the cake?”

 

* * *

 

 

Months later when Keith was stuck in the desert, the shack he had inherited from his father full of dust and forgotten memories, he thought of all those important to him. He thought and thought and thought and thought.

 

Thought about his parents vanishing in the dark.

 

Thought about how there was no way the Kerberos mission had been a failure.

 

Thought about how food was scarce in the desert and hunger was gnawing at his bones.

 

Thought about how much easier his cave explorations would have been if he still had possessed that drone with its three separate propulsion systems and night time camera.

 

And he remembered the people associated with these thoughts.

 

His parents, Shiro and Matt, himself, Hunk.

 

Keith hoped, no, he would make sure that he would see all of them again one day.    

**Author's Note:**

> This was both fun to write and frustrating. I like how it turned out in the end! 
> 
> *bows* Miki, I hope it was satisfying and would love to know your thoughts about it.
> 
> Information on how to commission me can be found [ here ](https://blancpen.tumblr.com/)


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